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Bosses at top UK companies earn on average 100 times that of their lowest-paid workers, a new report says.

The High Pay Centre found the worst disparities at retailers such as Ocado and JD Sports, while the ratio narrowed in the financial services sector.

One boss cited earned nearly three thousand times more than the company's lowest quartile employee.

The report said quite low levels of pay were "commonplace" for large numbers of workers at many major firms.

According to the research, boss of online grocer Ocado Tim Steiner is paid £2,820 per year for every £1 the lowest paid worker earns.

The firm paid him a one-off £58m bonus last year, it said, which made him an outlier in terms of pay.

The next highest chief executive to employee ratio was at oil giant BP, where former boss Bob Dudley was paid 543 times more than the lowest paid worker last year.

'Rethinking pay'

More widely across FTSE 100 index of top listed companies, bosses earn 73 times more than the average earner at their companies, the research said.

Among a broader range of the top 350 UK public companies, bosses are paid 53 times their average employee.

Mubin Haq of the Standard Life Foundation, which also sponsored the research, said there was "great potential for rethinking pay, benefitting those on lower incomes".

"Nowhere is this more stark than in the retail sector which has the highest levels of inequality.

"During the pandemic the industry either relied heavily on government support or made significant profits. Rewards are not being fairly shared but companies can begin to make plans to reduce the gaps that exist."

In August, a report by the CIPD, the professional body, and the High Pay Centre, said the UK's biggest listed companies had failed to address their bosses' huge salaries during the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite some high-profile reports of executive pay cuts, these were mainly "superficial or short-term", it said.

Nor have firms addressed a culture of excessive bonuses.